Hollywood-AI battle heats up, as OpenAI and studios clash over copyrights and consent

A year after tech company OpenAI shook up Hollywood with the release of its video tool Sora AI, CEO Sam Altman was back – with a potentially game-changing update.

Unlike the generic images Sora could initially create, the new program allows users to upload videos of real people and place them in AI-generated environments, complete with sound effects and dialogue.

In one video, a synthetic Michael Jackson takes a selfie video with an image of “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston. In another, an image of SpongeBob speaks from behind the White House Oval Office.

“Excited to launch Sora 2! » Altman wrote on social media platform

But the enthusiasm has not been shared in Hollywood, where the new AI tools have sparked a rapid response. At the heart of the dispute is the question of who controls the copyrighted images and likenesses of licensed actors and characters – and how much they should be paid for their use in AI models.

The Motion Picture Assn. The professional group did not mince its words.

“OpenAI must take immediate and decisive action to resolve this issue,” President Charles Rivkin said in a statement Monday. “Well-established copyright law protects the rights of creators and applies here. »

By the end of the week, several agencies and unions, including SAG-AFTRA, made similar statements, marking a rare moment of consensus in Hollywood and putting OpenAI on the defensive.

“We’re working directly with studios and rights holders, listening to feedback and learning from how people are using Sora 2,” Varun Shetty, OpenAI’s vice president of media partnerships, said in a statement. “Many are creating original videos and are excited to interact with their favorite characters, which we see as an opportunity for rights holders to connect with their fans and share that creativity.”

For now, the skirmish between well-capitalized OpenAI and major Hollywood studios and agencies appears to be just the start of a bruising legal battle that could shape the future of AI use in the entertainment industry.

“The question is less if the studios will try to assert themselves, but when and how,” Anthony Glukhov, senior partner at law firm Ramo, said of the conflict between Silicon Valley and Hollywood over AI. “They can adopt whatever posture they want; but ultimately, there will be two titans clashing.”

Before becoming the object of the creative community’s ire, OpenAI quietly attempted to establish itself in the film and television industry.

Company executives launched a charm offensive last year. They contacted key players in the entertainment industry, including Walt Disney Co., to discuss potential areas of collaboration and try to allay concerns about its technology.

This year, the San Francisco-based AI startup took a more assertive approach.

Before unveiling Sora 2 to the general public, OpenAI executives held conversations with some studios and talent agencies, warning them that they needed to explicitly state which pieces of intellectual property — including licensed characters — were not allowed to display their likeness on the AI ​​platform, according to two sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment. The actors would be included in Sora 2 unless they opt out, the sources said.

OpenAI disputes this claim and says the company always intended to give actors and other public figures control over how their likeness is used.

The response was immediate.

Beverly Hills talent agency WME, which represents stars such as Michael B. Jordan and Oprah Winfrey, told OpenAI that its actions were unacceptable and that all of its clients would withdraw.

Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency also argued that their clients had the right to control and be compensated for their image.

Studios, including Warner Bros., have echoed this point.

“Decades of applicable copyright law establish that content owners do not need to opt-out to prevent unlawful use of their protected intellectual property,” Warner Bros. said. Discovery in a press release. “As technology advances and platforms evolve, traditional principles of copyright protection do not change. »

Unions including SAG-AFTRA – whose members were already alarmed by the recent appearance of a fake AI-generated composite named Tilly Norwood – have also expressed concern.

“OpenAI’s decision to enforce copyright solely through an ‘opt-out’ model threatens the economic foundations of our entire industry and highlights the stakes in the litigation currently underway in the courts,” newly elected President Sean Astin and Country Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement.

This conflict highlights the clash of two very different cultures. On the one hand, there is the brash Silicon Valley philosophy of “move fast and break things,” where asking for forgiveness is considered preferable to asking for permission. On the other, Hollywood’s eternal distrust of the effects of new technologies and its desire to retain control of increasingly valuable intellectual property rights.

“The difficulty, as we’ve seen, is balancing capabilities with prior rights held by other people,” said Rob Rosenberg, a partner at the law firm Moses and Singer LLP and former general counsel for Showtime Networks. “That’s what drove the whole entertainment industry crazy.”

Amid the outcry, Sam Altman posted on his blog days after Sora 2’s launch that the company would give more granular controls to rights holders and that it was working on a way to pay them for generating videos.

OpenAI said it has guardrails to block the generation of well-known characters and a team of reviewers who remove material that violates its updated policy. Rights holders can also request removal of content.

The strong pushback from the creative community could be a strategy to force OpenAI into licensing deals for the content it needs, legal experts said.

The current law is clear: A copyright owner has complete control over their copyrighted material, said Ray Seilie, an entertainment litigator at the Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir law firm.

“It’s not your role to tell others to stop using it,” he said. “If they use it, they use it at their own risk.”

Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery have already sued AI companies MiniMax and Midjourney, accusing them of copyright infringement.

One of the challenges is finding a way to fairly compensate talent and rights holders. Several people working in the entertainment industry ecosystem said they don’t think a flat rate works.

“Offer monetization that’s not one-size-fits-all,” said Dan Neely, chief executive of Chicago-based Vermillio, which works with Hollywood talent and studios and protects how their likenesses and characters are used in AI. “That’s what will move the needle for talent and studios.”

Guest reporter Nilesh Christopher contributed to this report.